Composites Strengthen Wind Turbine Blades

Bayer conducted tests to compare the properties of epoxy and vinyl ester resin systems with a polyurethane resin system. Two sets of long-flow vacuum infusion experiments were designed to compare the flow rates of the two different resins. The research team also studied the effects on the properties of fiber-reinforced composites by including multi-walled carbon nanotubes.

The team found that the nanotubes helped improve the fracture toughness of the composites. "Incorporation of a small amount of multi-walled carbon nanotubes improves the fracture [toughness] of both polyurethane and epoxy composites by as much as 48 percent," Younes said in a second press release. "The addition of carbon nanotubes is a viable option to improve the strength of wind turbine blades."

The tests were part of a recent study funded in part by a Department of Energy grant for the development of stronger composite materials for wind blades. The grant also helped fund development of the Baydur polyurethane system and will fund additional research comparing the performance of new polyurethane resin systems with those of traditional epoxy and vinyl ester resins used for wind blades.

Bayer has also developed the Baydur Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) custom polyurethane system for making wind turbine root rings and blades, as well as lightweight structural components for the transportation industry. The custom formulation improves process efficiency by offering a faster demold time than epoxy. The wall thickness of parts can be decreased, yet the material is stronger than polyester, resulting in lighter parts that maintain strength.

I had the same question--will the use of wind turbines get to a scale where what they are doing interferes with, or at least somehow affects, larger-scale wind patterns, i.e., climate. I suspect this has already been at least considered, if not studied yet.

For sure, there are not that many in use to cause a major change in the climate, but the use of the word ""yet" implies there could be.

For sure, setting up a windmill directly in front of another windmill would be foolish, as the energy removed by the first unit will never reach the second. That said, what affect will removing <enter the energy amount of your choice here> have on the climate long term? I posed the question only as it is an unknown to consider as we search for alternative sources to meet the ever-growing power needs of society.

Louis, I would find it tough to believe that we've got enough wind turbines on the planet yet to have an affect on climate, which is macro-scale, although it's an interesting question whether they might have an effect on weather, which is a local phenomenon.

At what point does the loss of mass in the blades and thus the loss of the flywheel effect begin to outweigh the benefits of lighter blades that start to spin faster in lighter wind, but stop sooner with the loss of wind? As to the birds, that is a good point, however, I was more interested in the affect on the climate when wind patterns are altered.I know that darn butterfly that flapped his wings in China last year caused us to have an unusually warm summer. >mild attempt at humor<

Thanks, Al, for that info about independent pitch control for responding to gusts faster and handling them better. And Aldo, thanks for the input about using genetic algorithm programming techniques for increasing efficiency.

As a side note, I was watching an episode of Terra Nova last week and suddenly noticed that the wind turbines they depicted as right inside the village were insanely small and incapable of providing the power they need, even when combined with solar panels. Of course, they would have had to put large enough turbines way outside the village, where they'd presumably get destroyed by marauding dinos.

Good points, Kenish. It will be interesting to see whether power costs increase. I would imagine conservation over the past few years must be having some impact. However, if EVs and Hybrids become plentiful, there will be more draw on the grid.

There's a huge wind farm near Palm Springs. It's interesting that 20+ years ago there were 10-12 distinctly different turbine designs. Nowadays about the only design in use is the 3-bladed turbine on a monopole mast. Only the size varies.

My understanding is turbines are often deliberately "parked". At low speeds the revenue from the power does not make up for the per-hour operating costs (wear and tear, maintenance, etc). I'm sure the windspeed threshold will decrease as the turbines become more reliable and/or power costs per kWh increase. (Southern California has very high electricity rates but also a surprising amount of wind power thanks to our topography).

Yep, Beth, that makes sense to use that technology to get the blades to follow the wind. It seems a natural direction to go in developing wind turbines. In a decade or two, our current wind tools may look quite primitive. We're probably only getting 10 or 15 percent of the possible energy from our current turbines.

A few weeks ago, Ford Motor Co. quietly announced that it was rolling out a new wrinkle to the powerful safety feature called stability control, adding even more lifesaving potential to a technology that has already been very successful.

It won't be too much longer and hardware design, as we used to know it, will be remembered alongside the slide rule and the Karnaugh map. You will need to move beyond those familiar bits and bytes into the new world of software centric design.

People who want to take advantage of solar energy in their homes no longer need to install a bolt-on solar-panel system atop their houses -- they can integrate solar-energy-harvesting shingles directing into an existing or new roof instead.

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